<p>I am a sophomore in an Electrical Engineering program, and until now I have had no problem in the classes. I am taking my first circuits class this semester and am struggling. Our professor is new and she goes through the content so fast. I have 110 pages of notes and we have only been in school a bit less than a month. This class has made me start thinking about changing majors.
When typing this I feel I sound irrational, but this class has made engineering frustrating and taken away the fun of problem solving. I can't find any logic or process in the steps to solve these problems.<br>
The reason I chose electrical engineering is I read that the math is very challenging and I am fascinated with electronics. I do very well in my math classes and am enjoying differential equations now.
So finally my question: Are a lot of the upper level courses in electrical engineering similar to circuits or will they include more math? </p>
<p>I’m not an upper division EE student, not yet, but as far as I know, the first circuits course (all engineers except civil take it) is only the prereq to the second circuits course (with much more advanced math) that only electrical engineers take… And so on so forth, there will be a lot of math and calculations.</p>
<p>As far as the first circuits course, it is based off of relatively simple concepts and the logic is there… I know it can be frustrating (oftentimes making little mistake(s) in equations and sifting to find them/it)… Part of it is getting over the initial hurdle of concepts. Another part is simply playing around with a bunch of different situations and circuits and seeing what will happen. Just like physics (and Calculus), when you get really good at circuits / get rid of all the misconceptions you’ve had, you can practically “feel” what is going on in there and what is happening with your setup of equations / the logic behind everything solidifies after a lot of that playing around (rather than just having a bunch of variables that will eventually end up to be the right answer, later you can get more confident that your answer is right without having to check), which is a really really good feeling you get out of engineering.</p>
<p>An alternative is to go to computer engineering where it seems to be more programming etc based than physical/math based.</p>
<p>The first circuits class can be demotivating because it is near impossible to visually imagine what’s going on. If possible try to get tutoring or watch MIT or other online video classes for Circuit theory. Once you get a hang of what it is you are learning, the rest of the classes are easy especially digital logic design etc. Several EE classes use advanced math but it is all about how to model the function of circuits using math. It can be fascinating or frustrating - fascinating if you are interested more in the circuits and their function but frustrating if you want to see how the equations have been derived to model the function. A lot of engineering classes do not go deep into that aspect. </p>
<p>It was frustrating initially, when I took that class eons ago. I found several books on solid state physics and those books helped quite a bit - helped me stick around. I can not ask for a better job now.</p>
<p>Use YouTube to your advantage, sometimes a different professor can make or break a class for you. I had circuits 1 and it was like a foreign language to me. But then had circuits 2 taught by a community college teacher and he made it fun, easy, and I fell in love with EE. That was 25 years ago. In modern times, you can go online and pick from several different teachers. Lastly, try to use the ratemyprofessor website to pick the better teachers if you can.</p>
<p>Upper level circuit theory and signals/systems/communications courses will be (applied) math heavy (differential equations, complex numbers, transforms, multivariable calculus, and the like). In the computer-related subarea, you will find boolean logic and algebra-type math use.</p>
<p>If you decide to switch to math, you will find that upper level math courses will be heavy with proofs.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Eh?..errr…ummm…</p>
<p>If the OP switches to a more applied or computational mathematics program, then he/she would only need one analysis/real analysis/advanced calculus course that will be proof-heavy. The “pure” math major (also called the graduate school preparatory path) will require whole years of both analysis/real analysis/advanced calculus and abstract algebra, which are very proof-heavy.</p>
<p>In some applied or computational mathematics programs, there are computer science emphasis, optimization/operations research emphasis and finance/economics emphasis. Some schools allow you to choose anything you want after that one analysis/real analysis/advanced calculus course.</p>
<p>I know for myself (as a Computational Math major), after I passed Advanced Calculus (which was “Real Analysis”-Light and did not use the famous Rudin book), I face very little proofs in my subsequent math courses, which were:</p>
<p>Mathematical Programming (basic 'ole linear programming/optimization course)
Numerical Analysis I (write programs using the language you choose to solve ODE’s, PDE’s, Taylor Series)
Numerical Analysis II (basically a numerical linear algebra course)
Discrete Math I (a combinatorics course…some proofs, not many)
Discrete Math II (basic graph theory…some proofs, not many)</p>
<p>Now I did have two math electives that were very proof-heavy:</p>
<p>Error-Correcting Codes (Michigan State’s “attempt” to teach cryptology. Actually wrong starting topic)
Computational Complexity (99% proofs and I really did not need to take this punishment)</p>